Address
by the Minister of Finance at the signing of the FATCA Agreement between Cyprus and the USA
The
Minister of Finance, Mr Harris Georgiades, and the US Ambassador to Cyprus, Mr John M. Koenig, signed today, at the
Ministry of Finance, an Agreement on the improvement of the International Tax
Compliance for the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
(FATCA) between Cyprus and the USA.
In his address during the signing ceremony, Mr Georgiades
stated the following:
“It is gives me great pleasure to
welcome you all to the signing ceremony of a very important intergovernmental
agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Cyprus. An
effort which started a couple of years ago and which saw the intensive and
close cooperation between Cyprus and US Authorities, is now reaching its
conclusion with the signing of the final agreement on the implementation of the
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, commonly known as FATCA.
Let me emphasize that Cyprus is fully
committed to implementing effectively all international standards on
transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. Indeed, just a few
weeks ago Cyprus has signed the OECD’s multilateral convention on automatic
exchange of information.
The signing today of the FATCA Agreement is another
important step in this very direction. But at the same time, Your Excellency, I
do believe that what we are achieving today is yet another step which strengthens
the already excellent political and economic ties between the US and Cyprus.
And for that I would like to thank you.”
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